Life List: Dress like Chuck from “Pushing Daisies”

Pushing Daisies was, for two brief shining seasons, some of the best television out there. It was the story of Ned the Piemaker, a man with the ability to bring back the dead with a touch. He can only bring them to life for 60 seconds before something else must die in order to balance out that life-touch. The other downside is that if Ned touches that living thing again, they fall down dead. Again. Permanently. Bummer. Ned uses his gift to solve crimes, working with a PI to speak to the dead for a minute to find out the circumstances of their death. He brought back to life his childhood love, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, in order to find out her murderer, only to leave her alive. And never able to touch her again. And they fall deeply in love. Major bummer.

Pushing Daisies was fun, quirky, and visually stunning. And because of this, too good for TV and got cancelled. (I don’t want to talk about it.)

But the best part of Pushing Daisies was how the fabulous clothes that Chuck wore on a regular basis. Leading to one of the items on my life list: “Dress like Chuck.”

A strange style icon to emulate? Possibly. But her clothes are a modern quirky mix of 50’s sweetheart and 60’s mod girl. Lots of a-line dresses, pretty florals and cardigans. (I like cardigans. I’m an old lady like that.) And it’s not just me, there are loads of bloggers who love Chuck, especially this Flickr poster who built a style guide around the character.

My favorites? (Large images abound.)

Okay, I know this is huge, but it needs to be. Stop looking at those shoes for a second. No, I know, they’re great. But I want you to check out this dress for a second. Pretty boat neck*, fun skirt…. do you see it? IT’S LACE! I KNOW, awesome, right?? Now let’s look at the shoes again… *happy sigh*

Okay, so this is a uniform of sorts as a “Bee Girl” (Don’t ask, watch “Bzzzzzzz!”) but the while the design looks like a rug in a hotel, the bows and bee pin slay me. SLAY ME! Plus, I love up-do’s. And yellow and black piping.

YELLOW SWEATER DRESS. I want it. And her fabric flower in her head. And that pie stand in the foreground. But the dress first. Priorities, people.

Yay cardigans! Pair it with a sweet buttondown top and circle skirt and you look like you’re about to walk into a malt shoppe for a soda with the girls. I loves it.

That pose just says, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did we just take your grandma’s couch, throw in a bubble dress and a pencil skirt and mix it around and then pop out with an outfit made of awesome? Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

Okay, fellow style aspirants. If you could dress like one person or character for the rest of your life, who would it be?

*I originally called this a bateau neckline. However, the always fabulous Ms. Bunny of bunnies’n’beagles said that a boat neck scoops deeper than a bateau. See how smart she is? Go read her blog.

I am pretty sure my next sewing project will be that red dress. Though I may give it a bateau neck instead… I love vintage/retro/period clothing so, so much. (though, as a gal whose primary fashion requirement is comfort, it takes a special occasion for me to actually don such things and the requisite shoes.)

well, I do have about 17 projects ahead of it… but I did just establish my personal “working hours” for the sewing room (business my wife & I are trying to get off the ground…) so it could happen this year.

Oooo, SEX-AY! But I’m with you on the self-conscious. That’s why I have her on my life list, a reminder that I need to be more brave!
And shave all the time and not just most of the time so I can wear those pretty dresses.

The only reason I watch Human Target with my husband is so I can watch Chi McBride and pretend he’s Emerson on a secret assignment.
I still like to play the YouTubes of “Morning Has Broken” or “Birdhouse in your Soul” when I’m feeling melanchony. Ellen Greene makes me hapy.

Oh my god-“Morning Has Broken” makes me cry every single time, but in such a good way. It has ever since I was a little girl, and I begged C to have the crowd sing it at our wedding. Still not sure if it’ll flow, but it makes my heart weep like a guitar. Gently.

okay.
you are my favorite.
i ABSOLUTELY adore pushing daisies…have BOTH seasons on DVD…i want to name my first daughter Chuck – and very well might actually follow through with that – and she is completely and irresistibly adorable!

Um…..how did I miss that you had started a blog????? And I LOVE Chick’s dresses. And that show overall. It inspired me to buy a green Chuck-like retro dress with with white polka dots and daisy details. I have not yet worked up the guts to wear it though.😦 And I don’t yet have the right shoes. But I think there are yellow sunshine-y heels in my near future, so that might fix that problem.🙂